Day 1186: A Frog Game

My goal with WMD is to find the hidden gems of the Xbox Live Indie Games (XBLIG) catalogue. The catalogue only goes back so far, though, having launched in late 2008. Today’s game doesn’t go back quite that far, but it does go back to 2009 at least. And it was a pleasant surprise.

“A Frog Game” seems to have made a bigger splash on Windows Phone, but it first came out on XBLIG (back when it was still called “Xbox Live Community Games). But, for me, it’s all about a game that came out in the early ’80s on the Mattel Intellivision called “Frog Bog”. Here it is for reference:

Few, if any, people playing “A Frog Game” probably realise that it’s a modern rendition of “Frog Bog”. But I’m good with that. You see, I *loved* “Frog Bog”. And now I can play it on my 360, it only costs a dollar, and has upgrades (such as bugs to avoid). Oh, and I can play it on Windows Phone. Since then the developers have released it on a raft of systems from Android to AmigaOS. But Xbox 360 and Windows Phone does it for me.

So how does the game actually play, for the uninitiated? You jump back and forth between two lily pads, timing it for maximum possibility of grabbing bugs as you go. You can play solo, or multiplayer where you try to out-do people in local multiplayer. And it’s a great game for kids, I guess, since I loved it as a kid. But I have a feeling I would have loved it as an adult, had I been an adult in the ’80s. How does it stand up today, for those new to it? Download it and find out for yourself, I’m waaaay too nostalgic for “Frog Bog” to have any clear sense of that.

It comes to us from the publisher of “M.A.C.E.” and “Tap Blox”, among several other (unreviewed) games.

Here’s what the publisher (EntwicklerX) has to say about the game:

“Try to catch with your frog as much flies as you can. Eat the flies from your opponent in the two player game and get his points.”